Mixing etc...

[Tony Ramone]

Hi all, I've been looking around a bit on this but could someone point me to a source for reading up on mixing in general?
I've been reading some of the threads here where someone might mention "cutting holes" in one instrument to make room for another. What exactly does this mean? Is it all about how you EQ the instruments separately?
I've no problem recording my signals into my DAW, but how do you go about putting them all together in such a way that they don't sound so isolated from each other?
I know I'm rambling now, I'm just very confused...

[String7th]

The bass guitar and kick drum could be a good exambple of this. Give an low end shelving eq gian on the kick of about 4-5db starting st 80-100hxz, but put a thin drastic 8-9 db cut at somewhere between 120-200hz. This leaves a hole for the bass guitar to take the lower mid-range from 200-800hz.

the same can apply to making a cut in the guitar tracks where the snare would stand out.

[Tony Ramone]

Originally Posted by String7th

The bass guitar and kick drum could be a good exambple of this. Give an low end shelving eq gian on the kick of about 4-5db starting st 80-100hxz, but put a thin drastic 8-9 db cut at somewhere between 120-200hz. This leaves a hole for the bass guitar to take the lower mid-range from 200-800hz.

I'm gonna have to stop you right there - I'm a total newbie when it comes to EQ so I have no idea what the hell that means. "Shelving EQ gain"? You're gonna have to seriously dumb this down for me, or point me to a resource for idiots, at least until Brandon's book comes out.

[TonyB]

You can pick up some good beginner level books and DVDs on Amazon.com.

DVD
Amazon.com: RECORDING & MIXING VOL. 1: Software

BOOKS
Amazon.com: Critical Listening Skills for Audio Professionals: F. Alton Everest: Books

Amazon.com: Mixing Audio: Concepts, Practices and Tools: Roey Izhaki: Books


Amazon.com: A Broadcast Engineering Tutorial for Non-Engineers, Third Edition: Graham A. Jones: Books

Amazon.com: Critical Listening Skills for Audio Professionals: F. Alton Everest: Books

[Tony Ramone]

Cheers, I'll give those a look.

[ferguson66]

There is also a lot of great information on this stuff for the beginner for free online. Some great stuff on youtube for example. Do some searches and read some stuff for free and then you will have a better idea about what kind of book will help you the most.

[Tony Ramone]

Youtube? Ah, never thought of that, thanks.

[the.blode]

Amazon.com: Critical Listening Skills for Audio Professionals: F. Alton Everest: Books

that book's not just good for beginners; exercises in that book will ALWAYS be useful in training your ears.

Reading is a very effective way of learning the terminology associated with mixing; most of the concepts aren't difficult to understand, but the jargon can make it seem confusing at first.

Essentially, this is an idea in mixing whereby each instrument is given a critical operating bandwidth - a part of the frequency spectrum where it's energy is more concentrated. By Removing this bandwidth from other, competing instruments, you can give this track added intelligibility in the mix. The operating bandwidth of an instrument will generally be within the realm of fundamentals or low order harmonics (eg. kick drum <100hz, Bass 100-500hz, guitar might be 750 - 1.5khz.) However; these are just IDEAS. Mixing is not a science; there are no laws that you absolutely have to obey - though giving instruments their own operating bandwidth can be a critical part of instrument definition.

[brandondrury]

Hi all, I've been looking around a bit on this but could someone point me to a source for reading up on mixing in general?

The goal is to have this damn home recording book of mine done by July 15th. My work load will determine if that is possible. (Today I've already done nearly 200 forum posts!).

A big chunk of my home recording book is the mixing section where I cover about a zillion fundamentals, tricks, and basically everything I know or can at least think of.

I've been reading some of the threads here where someone might mention "cutting holes" in one instrument to make room for another. What exactly does this mean? Is it all about how you EQ the instruments separately?

Let me give you an example. Let's say you've got a kick drum and a bass guitar that are kinda mushing up where neither is really as distinct as you'd like. By notching out 60Hz on the bass guitar by 3dB and boosting 120Hz by 3dB and then boosting 60Hz on the kick drum by 3dB and cutting 120Hz on the bass by 3dB you can make both your kick drum and bass guitar sound bigger, clearer, and more defined.

I usually cut the guitar bus @ 2K by a 1-2dB and then boost the vocal by 1-2dB to take the bite out of the guitars a hair and to let the vocals cut through quite a bit better. These are the kinds of things I do at the tail end of a mix just to give the mix that extra something.

how do you go about putting them all together in such a way that they don't sound so isolated from each other?

Interesting question. I usually have the opposite problem. My tracks all seem to merge together in a way in which I wish they were all more distinct. I'm guessing you are tracking solo projects. If you track live bands every member wants to be heard louder and clearer. That's quite a task to pull off sometimes.


Brandon

[Tony Ramone]

Thanks, that's just what I needed. I think Ill definitely pick up a copy of that book when it's done.
Incidentally, the only time I've done an actual recording was for a friends band - We recorded the instruments live then overdubbed the vocals, but because my friend was the drummer, I kept finding myself pushing the drums out to the front in the mix. Couldn't help myself